Big names, space for young people and innovative projects star in the first taste of the line-up of the Voll-Damm Barcelona Jazz Festival, which this year will celebrate its 55th edition with the aim of expanding jazz throughout the city, as they will do this Sunday with the celebration in Passeig de Grà cia of International Jazz Day.
Among the performances that were presented on Wednesday, and which represent if not half of the definitive line-up, stand out artists such as the Californian saxophonist Joshua Redman, who will lead a project accompanied by the voice of Gabrielle Cavassa for the first time. You can also hear Sergio Mendes in the festival debut of this disciple of Jobim. The Brazilian, winner of three Grammys, arrives with the goal of being the Brazilian musician who has sold the most records in the US.
Ron Carter, a member of Miles Davis’ quintet between 1963 and 1968, will perform at the Paral·lel 62 venue as part of a European tour that could be the 82-year-old double bassist’s last.
Other dates marked on the calendar will be those corresponding to special projects, such as Michel Camilo’s duo performance with Marc Mezquida, an innovative proposal that will be seen at the Palau de la Música Catalana, with the curiosity that Michel Camilo performed for the first time at the festival in 1987, when Mezquida was only one year old. It is the first meeting of the two pianists, who will celebrate a unique duet.
Another special project is the one starring Andrea Motis, who will perform accompanied by the Camerata Conservatori Liceu, the string formation made up of 24 musicians that combines professional musicians with performers from the classical discipline of the Liceu Conservatory. This is the Barcelona trumpeter’s most ambitious project, which will only be repeated in Madrid and with a reduced line-up.
Another performance that should be highlighted in this section is the collaboration of the Cameroonian Richard Bona with the Liceu Big Band. “We are very excited about the possibility of having young people starring in great concerts”, said the director of the festival, Joan Anton Cararach.
In addition to this first batch of artists, the festival will also present several original projects with the participation of the Liceu Conservatory. We are talking about the duet formed by Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson, the debut of vibraphonist Joel Ross, the return of Chris Potter and Aaron Parks, as well as the quartet formed by Javier Colina, Albert Sanz, Antonio Serrano and Israel Suárez.
Other concerts confirmed for Wednesday include solo guitar recital by Ralph Towner, with his blend of jazz and classical music, in his first solo performance at the festival. Also the project of Los Fumeros Horacio and his daughter LucÃa, double bass and piano. Or the saxophonist Donny McCaslin, who participated in Black Star, David Bowie’s last album, after the British genius discovered him during a performance in a bar in New York.
Tickets for these concerts, which, with some exceptions, will begin in October, will go on sale this Friday, except for Andrea Motis, who will go on sale today, and those for Sofiante Pamart, Ron Carter and the joint concert by Michel Camilo and Marc Mezquida, which are already on sale and aim to be sold out in a few days.
The presentation of these performances takes place the same week as International Jazz Day, a commemoration supported by Unesco that established April 30 as an international day dedicated to the genre, and which will mean the celebration this Sunday in Passeig de Grà cia of jazz concerts throughout the day. From twelve in the morning, groups such as the Sant Andreu Dixie Band, Joan Mar Sauqué or the duo Hamilton from Holland and Nduduzo Makhathini, among others, will perform. “We bring cultural value to the city by opening the festival in a popular way”, explains Tito Vilanova, who has highlighted the desire for Unesco to choose Barcelona as the main city for the world celebration in 2024 and 2025, an objective that “be consistent with what the city of Barcelona is for jazz”.
